The Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland is a leader of a project supporting the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) in assessing the on-going implementation of the European Union’s Arctic policy. The “EU Arctic Policy Assessment” project is carried out by a consortium composed of the University of Lapland, the Arctic Portal from Iceland, the Alfred Wegener Institute from Germany and a number of subcontractors, one of which is the Regional Council of Lapland.

In April 2016, the European Commission and the EU’s High
Representative published a communication outlining the EU’s Arctic policy for the
coming years. The EU wants to follow-through how almost 40 different actions
specified in the communication are being implemented and developed.

The role of the Arctic Centre together with the consortium is to help
the European Commission and the EEAS in organizing a series of seminars in Brussels.
During these events, stakeholders from the Arctic and from across the EU will share
their views on the EU Arctic policy and on the variety of EU Arctic-relevant
activities. The team will analyze the results of the seminars as well as offer own
expert assessment. Professor Timo Koivurova, Director of the Arctic Centre, is
leading the 2,5-years effort.

The project is also to
examine whether another Arctic communication is needed in several years’ time and
what issues could be included in such a new EU policy statement. Moreover, the
experts will provide the EU policy officers with an on-going policy advice.

The project, starting in January 2017, will build on the earlier
activities of the Arctic Centre and its partners, in particular on the project
“Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic”. The
activities will utilize the EU Arctic policy expertise that the Arctic Centre has
built up over the last seven-eight years.

More information:

Professor
Timo Koivurova
Team Leader, Director of the Arctic Centre
timo.koivurova(at)ulapland.fi, +358 (0) 40 551 9522

Adam
Stepien
EU Arctic Policy Expert, Arctic Centre
astepien(at)ulapland.fi, +358 (0) 40 484 4298

Karol
Kowalski
Project Lawyer, University of Lapland
karol.kowalski(at)ulapland.fi, +358 (0) 40 484 4026


LaY/AK/AS&MH